Mature EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) processes include Steam Flooding (SF), Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS), Miscible Gas, Thermal, and Polymer Flooding. Less mature but demonstrated processes include SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drain), Low Salinity Water-flooding, Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer flooding, High Pressure Steam Injection, In-situ Combustion/HPAI (High Pressure Air Injection), and Pulsing Waves. Burning of fossil fuels (gas or diesel oil) to create heat for EOR is the typical approach for steam flooding, SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drain) and in-situ-combustion (fire flooding that includes High Pressure Air Injection (HPIA)). When fossil fuel is burned for heat generation the exhaust is emitted into the atmosphere adding to pollution. Processes still undergoing research and development include In-situ Upgrading (heating), Crude Upgrading (catalytic), novel solvents, N2/CO2//ASP Foam, and Hybrid Processes. See “Advances in Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes,” by Laura Romero-Zeron, University of New Brunswick, May 2012, at page 34 (adapted from Regtien, 2010).
Flaring gas is the burning of raw natural gas associated with oil extracted from an oil production well where there are no pipelines to carry the gas away. The process of flaring completely wastes the thermal energy produced, contaminates the atmosphere, and has other harmful effects. See the subsection “Impacts of waste flaring associated gas from oil drilling sites and other facilities,” under “Gas flare,” at the website Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.